The Clintons Are Largely Absent From the 2018 Campaign Trail

“I see the Clintons as a liability,” said a high school teacher running as a progressive in the Arkansas governor’s race.

By NTK Staff | 05.21.2018 @1:00pm

With less than six months to go until Election Day, the press is beginning to notice the absence of Bill and Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail. Once an ubiquitous duo campaigning for Democrats from coast to coast, the shocking 2016 defeat of Hillary Clinton at the hands of Donald Trump appears to have taken some of the life out of the Clintons’ political activity.

Hillary Clinton formed what she would describe as a “dark money group” last year and has announced plans to be active in the midterms through that vehicle. But Bill Clinton is virtually a ghost. The New York Timesnotes that Bill “has been largely sidelined amid new scrutiny of his past misconduct with women.”

Meanwhile, high-profile races in Alabama, Georgia, and Pennsylvania have come and gone in the past year, and the Clintons have been largely silent. It’s unclear whether that is by design of the Clintons, or whether the demand has simply dropped off.

Even in their former political backyard — in Arkansas, where Mr. Clinton was governor — there is scant demand for their help. In Little Rock, Ark., where on Tuesday there is a Democratic primary election for a Republican-held House seat the party covets, none of the four candidates running has reached out to seek the Clintons’ support, their campaigns said.

“I see the Clintons as a liability,” said Paul Spencer, a high school teacher running as a progressive in the Arkansas race. “They simply represent the old mind-set of a Democratic Party that is going to continue to lose elections.”

Similarly, in Alabama, Democrat and eventual U.S. Senate election winner Doug Jones considered enlisting the help of Bill Clinton, “before abandoning the idea as too risky,” the Times wrote.

In February, NTK reported that Hillary Clinton would likely pursue a “below the radar” style of campaigning in 2018. Time will tell if either Clinton decides to raise their profile more as the midterms draw nearer.